Smart expansion

Adding businesses can be a smart move if you have the right people leading the group.

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June 7, 2012

The tagline for ABC Home & Commercial Services is “specialists for your environment.” While the diverse company offers 16 different services, ranging from pest control to lawn maintenance to roofing, owner Bobby Jenkins emphasizes that professionals who work at his firm are not jacks-of-all-trades.

“If you have a pest control technician coming to your home, that is all he does,” Jenkins says. “And if you have a plumber, that’s all he does. If it’s a tree issue, we put an arborist on your property.”

This assures customers that while ABC Home & Commercial can be all things for all people in terms of servicing home and environmental needs, its people are experts in their service lines. And that makes all the difference.
“We are in the service business, and it’s all about delivering that excellent level of quality, and what I’ve learned in this process [of adding services] is we are completely dependent on whoever is running that line of business,” Jenkins says.

Expansion into a new business line only happens when Jenkins knows he has a pro to manage the service. And often, that’s exactly how new services come about at ABC Home & Commercial.

Business owners in the community call Jenkins and show interest in being a part of the ABC team. For example, with the tree trimming service, Jenkins was approached by a local tree trimming company that had grown to a certain level and saw opportunity at ABC.

“We bought the business and the owner came with it and it running that division for us,” Jenkins says. “His mindset was than he would grow that business at a faster rate under the ABC brand than he would have been able to grow it as his own brand.”

ABC brings the customer base and marketing firepower. The tree-trimming firm brought its expertise and a new service opportunity for ABC. This same arrangement is how ABC broke into the pool business, Jenkins says.
The key is to ensure that the company maintains focus, Jenkins adds. Not every service firm that approaches ABC is a fit. Jenkins keeps a pulse on what customers want so he can ensure that services he offers will sell.